An Examination of Workplace Incivility and its Selective Nature During Remote and Hybrid Work
Year: 2023
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The remote workforce has rapidly expanded since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With more employees moving to remote work arrangements, news stories and opinion surveys have highlighted that toxic workplace behaviours have moved with them, including uncivil behaviours. Despite their low intensity, workplace incivility has serious ramifications, and it is imperative to understand the mechanisms through which it operates to foster negative employee outcomes, particularly during remote work. Troublingly, this incivility may be more frequently experienced by members of marginalized (vs. non-marginalized) groups (i.e., selective incivility). The current dissertation is a mixed-method investigation of incivility during remote and hybrid work (i.e., hybrid work incivility), how its harmful effects can be mitigated, and its selective nature. Across three studies, full-time employees were recruited using Prolific.co from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In a qualitative investigation, Study 1 (N = 49) revealed that although several forms of remote work incivility mirror extant understandings of the construct (e.g., being interrupted), some forms are novel to remote work meetings (e.g., being muted in an online meeting without one’s consent). Accordingly, novel items were generated to supplement established measures of workplace incivility. Study 2 (N = 198) revealed a two-factor structure for the adapted measure, where participants assessed uncivil behaviours based on how actively or passively rude the behaviour is (e.g., receiving ridicule vs. having one’s email ignored). In a three-wave, longitudinal investigation, Study 3 (N = 746) found that across the study duration and across participants, those who reported greater levels of hybrid work incivility reported lower work engagement and greater emotional exhaustion. A novel mechanism, employees’ felt relational status (i.e., feelings of being respected and connected to the workgroup) explained these effects. Autoregressive analyses demonstrated that felt relational status, work engagement, and emotional exhaustion were relatively stable across the study duration. As a test of selective incivility theory, disabled (vs. non-disabled) workers reported greater levels of hybrid work incivility. Yet, no evidence of selective incivility was found across gender, racio-ethnic background, nor sexual orientation. Implications for workplace incivility theory, research, and practice are discussed.
Author: Sakr, Nouran
Institution: University of Guelph
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213376069